Apparatus having rotatable means for feeding aeratable powdered material from storageand dispensing such material



NOV. 6, 1951 $|NDEN 2,574,231

APPARATUS HAVING ROTATABLE MEANS FOR FEEDING AERATABLE POWDERED MATERIALFROM STORAGE AND DISPENSING SUCH MATERIAL Filed Q01). 5, 1947 2SHEETS-SHEET 1 Z 2 U 2 Z 25 I62 l- [k YMM Lib z qdfi ,J 'ndm.

Nov. 6, 1951 A. D. SINDEN 2,574,231 APPARATUS HAVING ROTATABLE MEANS FORFEEDING AERATABLE POWDERED MATERIAL FROM STORAGE AND DISPENSING SUCHMATERIAL Filed 001;. 5, 1947 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 N XIV/@222? WWW PatentedNov. 6, 1951 u r re gray-res Para;

:APEARATUS- -HAVING ROTATABLE 'MEANSV- JFOR "FEEDING AERATABLE POWDEREDMATERIAL FROM STORAGE AND .DIS

: stephens-Adamson.

of Illinois Mfg. 00., a corporation;

Application October 3, 1947, Serial'No. 777359 This apparatus is totakeaeratabl'e" material "from storage, as froin a circular bin"ora-silo..

Many fine powders such as paper clay, Por-t land cement, pulverizedstarch, and light soda ash'when mixed withairlose theircharacteristics jas solids and-flow' lilieiiuids. They'will run through cracks :like: anyliquid, go: around ben'ds; and even-flow- 'up through a trap like waterin a plumbing system;

When those materials are 'stored in a circular bin or a si1o, and Iattempt-is made to draw them of? fromnthe bottom, they-tend to arch"over any bottom-openingand thus stop the flow by leaving an a-ir'spaceblow'th'e arch.

Thereafter, when the arch-is'br'oken, the descent" of the powderedmaterial into the air beneath thearch aerates it: and -gives it'thefluid characteristics; Then 'th'e material runs'iaway like any lightliquid until the a air gets out ofZ-it when 'itu'ecoversits:characteristics of aipowdered so'lid;

'The principalobject of thi-sinventi'on ist'o take a'eratab'l'e materialfrom storage at a measured; substantially uniform rate. Generallyspeaking;

this is accomplished by a combination of 'two der vices in -1t'and'emth'e' first I breaking any arch in the m'a-terial and feeclingor'discharging'the ma- 1181 12.] :from storage; and-'the-second;.zreceiving the di'scharged material; preventing itsrrnnningaway if:- aerated, 'and' feeding'itiata uniformratetto a: discharge loutlet whether it istreceive'd :inta'er a-ted condition orotherwise.

Specifically, 'ithere is there.- disclosedtby way of. example what willbe called! Circular? bin dis-'- chargerfias thezfirst; device,and=beneathtit what will: beiical1ed .a -Circular volumetricfeederfordelivering; thee: material in :a :definiter volume :per unit of time.

In .the drawing:

Fig;.'1. is-a vertical section through the apparatusand the: adjacentportion: of a bin; "and Fig.2 is a plan'view with parts brokenawaydn;order to show the relation between the several elements of the-twodevices.

But these 'drawings and thecorresponding description are used forthelpurpose-of. illustrae tive-disclosure only;

cured "to I a circular'i bottomz 1 133138 Mr? havingxan;

outlet. L5Fadjacentztottheiedge zthereni;

7-Glaims; ((31.222-227')" In the-lower portion. of the; :bin, above.the-hot.- tomv plate |4;isarotatable cone: lfittothellower portion .ofwhich are secured-fltwentylfeeder .fingers l 1 adapted .to: sweepover.the corresponding: circular or annular portion of the bottom-plate andpasslacross theoutlet 15. The feederfingers are providedwith arms 18,inclined tolcorrespond with.thelinclination.ofithecone lfiland madefastthereto. byrivets 1.9. i

The cone has a hub .lldsecuredltoiit'by circulardiscscrspidersiLandL.22, andntheshubiis keyed at 23110 .a supporting anddrivingshaftl' l itself supported .on a-thrus't bearingcmotA-shownl manetransmission gearncase generally indicated by 25.

The bottom plate ll' llhas .anhaxial openings; surrounded vby acircularfiange i'lf; and the area between thatxflangeaandnthe rimhof'the baseioftheuconevis constantly. "swept by spiral vanes '28 whichserve toke'epthe powdered material'ffrom accumulating on the botom plateunderlthenone.

' operationof 'th'e circular b'z'n disc'hzzrger" As the shaft-2.4 isrotated counter-clockwisein Fig 2, sthetpowdered material in'lthe: bin10 is agitated andworkedto theldischargezopening L5; through which ithf-allsiby gravity The...revolying cone it and the-feeder fingersi lkeep theentire area otthelower part .of thewbin alive and moving,.hence, any tendency toarch about theqbottom of the bin and-.over theoutlet l5 is-cOn-v stantly broken up, with-(the result :that the.material is fed to theioutletsin a constant, regular supply-t.

Arching of themater-ial willioccur, .butitcam not endurellongv enough toseriously interfere with the regular delivery firoml the bin. Anyaeration. caused Joy breakingv an:w arch is taken care: of 1 by. thesecond device inn/the combination;

Circular volumetric feeder edgeaisisomewhatilowerthan its outer edge.and

is securedet a circular-discafil havingcalcentral .openingin@whichiisfitted-ca ring; 35 surrounding the shaft 24. Closely fitted into thetrough and sweeping it in regular series are twenty vanes IQ ofgenerally rectangular form, having arms 19 made fast to a rotary disc 40fixed to and driven by a hub 4| keyed on the shaft 24 at 42. The ring 36is supported by a sleeve 43, which in turn is supported by a washer 44on the crossframe angles 45 of the main frame 34. The hub 4| issupported by the ring 36 through a lubricating washer 46, and betweenthe hub 4| and the hub 20 is a ring 41.

The trough 3| has an outlet 48, here shown as located 180 degrees fromthe outlet l5, but of course, that location is subject to change to suitthe conditions of any particular situation.

Operation of the volumetric feeder The powdered material, fallingthrough the outlet l5, collects in the trough 3|, and the closely fittedvanes 38 divide it into measured volumes and force those volumes totravel around the trough until they reach the outlet 48 in succession,when they drop by gravity through the discharge 30. The vanes 38 fit thetrough so closely that aerated powdered material cannot pass between andrun around the trough to the outlet 48, either with or against themovement of the vanes. Thus, it will be seen that, regardless of theaerated or other condition of the powdered material passing through theoutlet l5 from the bin discharger, it will be prevented from movingfaster than the apparatus is designed to take, and will be forced tomove in measured quantity at a definite rate determined by the speed ofthe shaft to the outlet 48 and the final discharge 30.

To prevent accumulation of powdered material between the rotary disc 4|!and the stationary disc 35, the former is provided with spiral vanes 50which constantly sweep the latter and work any powdered material towardsthe lower wall of the trough 3|.

The diameter of the bin discharger should be such that the material tobe handled cannot form an arch that will maintain itself long enough tointerrupt the delivery. A possible variation from that condition is tohave the diameter of the bin discharger smaller than the bottom of theconical portion II, or of the bottom of the bin, and prevent the archingby the means forming the subject matter of my application No. 637,945,December 29, 1945, now abandoned.

Variations in the construction of the bin discharger will be selectedfrom prior devices or made to suit particular conditions and that hereindisclosed is deemed suflicient.

Variations in the volumetric feeder will be selected from prior devicesor designs to suit particular conditions arising from the nature of thematerial to be handled or the characteristics of the final deliverysought to be made.

I claim:

1. In a device for taking aeratable material out of a bin, thecombination of a bin having a bottom provided with an outlet, a circularbin discharger in said bin including a revolving cone and feeder fingerspassing over said outlet, said cone having its axis vertically arrangedand the cone being revoluble on such axis, and a feeder below said bincomprising an annular trough coaxial with said cone and having a portionarranged beneath said outlet to receive material passing therethrough, aplurality of relatively narrow spaced radial vanes each substantiallycoincident in size and shape to the cross-sectional area of said troughand arranged therein, and

means for continuously rotating said vanes on said axis to move thematerial at a measured rate through the trough to a discharge spacedfrom said outlet.

, 2. In a device for taking aeratable material out of a bin, thecombination of a bin having a bottom provided with an outlet, a circularbin discharger in said bin including a revolving cone and feeder fingerspassing over said outlet, said cone having its axis vertically arrangedand the cone being revoluble on such axis, and a feeder below said bincomprising an annular trough coaxial with said cone and having a portionarranged beneath said outlet to receive material passing therethrough, aplurality of relatively narrow spaced radial vanes each substantiallycoincident in size and shape to the cross-sectional area of said troughand arranged therein, said vanes being rotatable on said axis to movematerial through the trough to a discharge point spaced from saidoutlet, and a common shaft for continuously driving the cone and feederfingers and the vanes.

3. In a device for taking aeratable material out of a bin, thecombination of a bin, a circular bin discharger in said bin including arevolving cone having its axis vertically arranged, radial feederfingers projecting outwardly from said cone, and a stationary platebeneath said cone and feeder fingers and having an outlet openingbeneath the path of travel of said fingers, an annular stationary troughbeneath said plate coaxial with said cone and above which said outlet isarranged to discharge material thereinto, a plurality of relativelynarrow radial vanes corresponding in shape and size to thecross-sectional area of and arranged in said trough and rotatable onsaid axis to move material to a discharge circumferentially spaced fromsaid outlet, and means for continuously rotating said vanes.

4. In a. device for taking aeratable material out of a bin, thecombination of a circular bin discharger including a revolving conehaving its axis vertically arranged, radial feeder fingers projectingoutwardly from said cone, a stationary plate beneath said cone andfeeder fingers and having an outlet opening beneath the path of travelof said fingers, and means above said plate and rotatable with said conefor moving radially outwardly any material collecting on said platebeneath said cone, an annular stationary trough coaxial with said coneand above which said outlet is arranged to discharge material thereinto,and a plurality of radial vanes corresponding in shape and size to thecross-sectional area of and arranged in said trough and rotatable onsaid axis to move material to a discharge circumferentially spaced fromsaid outlet.

5. In a device for taking aeratable material out of a bin, thecombination of a circular bin discharger including a revolving conehaving its axis vertically arranged, radial feeder fingers projectingoutwardly from said cone, and a stationary plate beneath said cone andfeeder fingers and having an outlet opening beneath the path of travelof said fingers, an annular stationary trough coaxial with said cone andabove which said outlet is arranged to discharge material thereinto, arotary plate beneath said stationary plate and rotatable on said axis,and a plurality of vertical radial vanes carried by the peripheralportion of said rotary plate and projecting below the plane thereof intosaid trough, said vanes corresponding generally in shape and 7 size tothe cross-sectional area of said trough to move material therein fromsaid outlet to a discharge circumferentially spaced therefrom.

6. In a device for taking aeratable material out of a bin, thecombination of a circular bin discharger including a revolving conehaving its axis vertically arranged, radial feeder fingers projectingoutwardly from said cone, and a stationary plate beneath said cone andfeeder fingers and having an outlet opening beneath the path of travelof said fingers, and means above said plate and rotatable with said conefor moving radially outwardly any material collecting on said platebeneath said cone, an annular stationary trough coaxial with said coneand above which said outlet is arranged to discharge material thereinto,a rotary plate beneath said stationary plate and rotatable on said axis,and a plurality of vertical radial vanes carried by the peripheralportion of said rotary plate and projecting below the plane thereof intosaid trough, said vanes corresponding generally in shape and size to thecross-sectional area of said trough to move material therein from saidoutlet to a discharge circumferentially spaced therefrom.

7. In a device for taking aeratable material out of a bin, thecombination of a circular bin discharger including a revolving conehaving its axis vertically arranged, radial feeder fingers projectingoutwardly from said cone, and a stationary plate beneath said cone andfeeder fingers and having an outlet opening beneath the path of travelof said fingers, an annular stationary trough coaxial with said cone andabove which said outlet is arranged to discharge material therelnto, arotary 1 plate beneath said stationary plate and rotatable on said axis,a plurality of vertical radial vanes carried by the peripheral portionof said rotary plate and projecting below the plane'thereof into saidtrough, said vanes corresponding, generally in shape and size to thecross-sectional area of said trough to move material therein from saidoutlet to a discharge circumferentially spaced therefrom, a lowerstationary plate beneath said rotary plate and connected at itsperiphery to said trough, and means between said rotary plate and saidlower stationary plate for moving radially outwardly any materialcollecting on the latter plate. ALFRED D. SINDEN.

FOREIGN PATENTS Country. Date Great Britain Aug. 1, 1929 Number Number

